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Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 22, 1913
Denver, Colorado – State Federation of Labor Adopts Policy of Action
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 20, 1913:
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Tag: John Lawson
Hellraisers Journal: Special Convention of Colorado State Federation of Labor Held in Denver, Takes Up Cause of Striking Miners
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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 20, 1913
Denver, Colorado – News from Special Convention of State Federation of Labor
Thursday December 18, 1913-Denver, Colorado
– News from Special Convention of the Colorado Federation of Labor
Flag of Ludlow
Louis Tikas was released by the military three days ago from the cold, unheated cell with the broken window through which blew the bitter winter wind and snow. Yesterday, the Trinidad Free Press printed this letter from Louie to the paper’s editor:
Dear Sir,
In regards to calling you up by phone I have changed my mind, so I will write you a few lines of information. I arrived at Ludlow about 3 P.M. The most people of the tent colony were waiting for me, and after visiting the colony tent by tent and shaking hands with most the people, I find out that all was glad to see me back…
I am leaving tonight for Denver to attend the state Federation of Labor convention and believe that I will be called to state before the delegates of the convention anything that I know concerning the militia in the southern field. While I stay a few days at Denver I will return to Ludlow again.
LOUIS TIKAS
Ludlow, Colorado[Emphasis added.]
The special convention of the Colorado Federation of Labor was called by President McLennan and Secretary W. T. Hickey:
The strike of the miners has grown to a real war in which every craft and department of organized labor is threatened with annihilation unless they take a positive and decided stand for their rights. The uniform of the state is being disgraced and turned into an emblem of anarchy as it was in the days of Peabody. In the southern fields, military courts, illegal and tyrannical, are being held for the purpose of tyrannizing the workers. Leaders of labor are being seized and arrested and held without bail. The homes of union miners have been broken into by members of the National Guard and property stolen. In order, that members of organized labor in every part of the state, whether affiliated or not, may become familiar with conditions in this struggle, a convention is hereby called to meet in Denver Tuesday December 16, 1913, at 10 o’clock. The purpose of the convention is the protection of the rights of every worker in this state and the protection of the public from the unbridled greed and outrages of the coal operators.
[Emphasis added]
More than 500 delegates answered the call and assembled at the Eagle’s Hall on Tuesday December 16th. They included national officers from United Mine Workers, President White, Vice-President Hayes and Secretary Green. John Lawson and Louie Tikas arrived from the strike zone in the southern field. There was outrage as the Convention learned of the disaster at the Vulcan mine. This is the same mine which the union had called a death trap just months before. Many delegates made it plain that they are in favor of a statewide general strike should one be called by union leaders. The Convention demands that Governor Ammons remove General Chase from command and immediately transfer all military prisoners to the civil courts.
Mother Jones made her way to the convention in spite of military orders that she stay out of the state. It is said that sympathetic trainmen assisted her in slipping into Denver. She made her opinion of Governor Ammons clear by calling for him to be hanged.
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Hellraisers Journal: Five Homes Dynamited in New Castle, Colorado; U. M. W. Strike Leaders & Families Targeted
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 18, 1903
New Castle, Colorado – Homes of Union Leaders Bombed
From The Denver Post of December 17, 1903:
Thursday December 17, 1903, New Castle, Colorado
Homes of Five Strike Leaders Bombed While Families Sleep
At 4:47 this morning, while the families of striking coal miners slept, bombs went off in five homes of known strike leaders. Amazingly, no-one was seriously injured. In one of the homes, that of John Lawson, his wife, Olive Lawson, and little three-year-old daughter, Fern, were sleeping in the dining room, which had been turned into a bedroom due to the small size of the actual bedroom. The bomb went off underneath that small bedroom, where the bomber must have thought it would cause the most injury.
The home of W. G. Isaacs was also bombed. Brother Isaacs was away from home at time, which is the only reason that his two children were not killed. Mrs. Isaacs had brought the two little ones into her bed to sleep with her. The house was set on fire by the blast but Mrs. Isaacs was able to escape through a window near her bed, and managed to save both of the children. The family dog was sleeping near the children’s bed, and was found burned to death after the fire was put out.
The homes of three other strike leaders suffered similar damage, including the homes of William Doyle and Evan R. Davis. A building owned by John and James Doyle, occupied by six families was also bombed.
The bombs all went off early in the morning. The local union is planning a meeting today to form a committee to investigate the attacks since the local authorities seem disinclined to do so.
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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Victor Debs Travels to Denver, Confers with Governor Ammons on the Colorado Coalfield Strike
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 24, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Eugene Debs Confers with Governor Ammons
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of November 22, 1913:
Hellraisers Journal: Baldwin-Felts Gunthug Shot and Killed on Streets of Trinidad; Striking Miner Louis Zancanelli Arrested
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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 22, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Baldwin-Felts Gunthug Belcher Shot and Killed
Headline from the Trinidad Chronicle News of November 21, 1913:
Friday November 21, 1913-Trinidad, Colorado
-Baldwin-Felts Gunthug George W. Belcher Shot and Killed
At about 7:30 last evening the notorious Baldwin-Felts gunthug, George W. Belcher, 26, of West Virginia, was shot and killed as he left the Hausman Drugstore across from the Columbian Hotel in Trinidad. Belcher died at the scene. A striking miner, Louis Zancanelli, was arrested shortly after the shooting by city policemen. Belcher was well known throughout the strike zone for his role in the killing of Brother Gerald Lippiatt in Trinidad in August. He was deputized by Huerfano Sheriff Jefferson Farr in June. He played a part in the attack on the Ludlow Tent Colony in October in which Brother Mack Powell was shot off his horse and killed. Later in October, he was found in the Death Special, lurking about Forbes, by John Lawson and Louie Tikas the morning after the attack on the Forbes Tent Colony which left Brother Luca Varhernick dead. At that time, Belcher was found in the Death Special along with his fellow gunthug Walter Beck and Judge Northcutt [publisher of the Trinidad Chronicle News], attorney for the mine operators.
Along with Belcher, Belk was also sworn in as a Huerfano County deputy which gave them both a license to kill striking miners. Northcutt signed on as defense attorney for Belcher and Belk soon after the murder of Brother Lippiatt. Northcutt is also the attorney for the mine operators, and works with District Attorney Hendrick in the prosecution of striking miners.
Any chance of a fair trial for Louis Zancanelli seems slim.
Hellraisers Journal: “Louie the Greek”-According to Judge Jesse Northcutt, Coal Operators’ Attorney, Master of Public Opinion in Southern Colorado
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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 20, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Northcutt Attacks Louie Tikas, Leader of Greeks at Ludlow
From the Trinidad Chronicle-News of November 13, 1913
Jesse G. Northcutt, former Colorado district judge, is the publisher of the Trinidad Chronicle-News, he has also been hired on as attorney for the coal operators. Furthermore, he is known to assist John J. Hendrick, the district attorney for Colorado’s Third Judicial District which covers Las Animas and Huerfano counties. How handy for the operators to have one of their own working within the criminal justice system under which striking miners are being prosecuted!
Thus, we see that Judge Jesse G. Northcutt plays several roles within the strike zone: “respected” former Judge, attorney for the coal operators, and the assistant to the District Attorney. Let us now add to that list, the role of master of public opinion through the pages of the Trinidad Chronicle-News:
“Louie the Greek” leader of three hundred of his country men-striking miners at the Ludlow tent colony, is perhaps the most conspicuous figure in the industrial war in southern Colorado. “Louie the Greek” is shrewd and fearless-a veteran of the Balkan war, and he controls the Greeks at the tent colony with a spoken word, a lift of the eye brows or a gesture of his hand.
[Emphasis added.]
The above is from the November 13th edition of the Judge’s newspaper. A week earlier (November 4th), the Chronicle described Louie’s fellow Greek miners as:
..a band of warlike Greeks who have been carrying on guerrilla warfare in the hills for weeks and who have repeatedly declined to obey the orders of the strike leaders.
[Emphasis added.]
As far as reporting goes, the job done here is not such a great one. Tikas never went to war in the Balkans, although several of his fellow Greek miners did. Louie Tikas is, in fact, a United States Citizen. He is a respected leader in the Ludlow Tent Colony where he is known for his quiet, calm manner in the face of severe provocation from the deputized company gunthugs.
And as to armed Balkan War Veterans in the Ludlow Tent Colony, all we have to say is: Thank God, the miners and their families have some protection from the hundreds of imported deputized armed gunthugs with their machine guns, high powered rifles, searchlights, and the Death Special which roams the strike zone at will.
Judge Jesse G. Northcutt was seen riding in that very same Death Special which flaunts the mounted machine gun that killed Brother Luca Vahernick at the Forbes Tent Colony. The Judge was found in the Death Special along with the gunthugs Belcher and Belk at Forbes, by John Lawson, the morning after the attack. It was Louie Tikas who stepped between Lawson and Belk in that quiet, calm way of his, and perhaps, saved Lawson’s life.
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks on Colorado Coalfield Strike at Washington [D. C.] Central Labor Union Meeting
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 10, 1913
Mother Jones Speaks at Meeting of Washington, D. C., Central Labor Union
From The Washington Herald of November 6, 1913:
Hellraisers Journal: Governor Ammons Orders Troops Out Against Strikers in the Coalfields of Southern Colorado
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 29, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Governor Declares Martial Law in Southern Coalfields
From The Denver Post of October 27, 1913:
Officers of the United Mine Workers of America in conference with Governor Ammons regarding the strike situation in the Southern coal fields. Left to right are Governor Ammons, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers of America and president of the Colorado State Federation of Labor; Vice President Frank J. Hayes and President John P. White of the United Mine Workers of America.
From The Rocky Mountain News of October 28, 1913:
Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Forbes Tent Colony Attacked by Operators’ “Death Special”
Let every miner wear his red bandanna
around his neck. It is our uniform.
-John Lawson
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 19, 1913
News Round-Up from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado
Wednesday October 15, 1913 – Southern Coalfields, Colorado
-Coal Operators Provide Gunthugs with “Death Special.”
The coal operators have brought a new machine into the strike zone of Colorado. Called the “Death Special” by the miners, the machine is an automobile covered with armor and equipped with a search light and a machine gun. It is usually seen roaming about the various tent colonies filled with Baldwin-Felts gunthugs holding their rifles at the ready. Word has it that Mr. Felts, himself, had the large automobile delivered from Denver to Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron plant in Pueblo. There the sides were torn down and replaced with three-eights-inch steel plates. The machine gun was shipped in from West Virginia where it had served previous duty against the miners of that state.
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Thursday October 17, 1913 – Trinidad, Colorado
-Death Special follows 48 Union Men from Starkville to Trinidad
Yesterday strikers engaged in peacefully picketing at the Starkville Mine. This mine is owned by James McLaughlin, brother-in-law of Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado. Forty-eight of these union men were rounded up, placed under arrest by company guards and county deputies and marched the three miles back to Trinidad. On either side of them were rows of armed gunthugs, and behind them came the Death Special with its spotlight and machine gun aimed at their backs.
The union men offered no resistance, but as they come down the hill into Trinidad, they began to shout. They are being held in the Las Animas County Jail.
G. C. Jones, organizer for the Western Federation of Miners, was beaten by Gunthug Belk and by A. C. Felts as he attempted to get a Kodak of the menacing machine. The young photographer, Lou Dold was more successful.
In the past few days other attacks upon the striking miners and their families have been perpetrated by the mine guards. The Sopris Tent Colony was shot up by company gunthugs as they sped by in an automobile. In Walsenburg, Gunthug Lou Miller and six of his companions, roamed the streets assaulting strikers and union sympathizers wherever they found them. The town of Segundo was sprayed with machine gun fire for a full ten minutes as punishment for the beating of guard who had insulted a woman there.
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Saturday October 18, 1913 – Forbes Tent Colony, Colorado
-Mine Guards Attack with Death Special, Striker Luca Vahernick Killed
Mine guards, yesterday, attacked the Forbes Tent Colony making use of the machine gun from the Death Special. Guards on horseback also used their rifles in the attack. A miner, Luca Vahernick, was killed, and a boy, Marco Zamboni, was shot nine times in the legs. A young girl who was on her way home from school was shot in the face. She lives on a near-by farm. The attack began at 2 p.m. and continued until dusk. The miners had only seven rifles or shotguns, six revolvers, and very little ammunition, but they were able to defend the Colony and prevented the guards from entering.
John Lawson arrived at Forbes this morning. As Lawson approached the camp, he found the Gunthugs Belk and Belcher lurking about, and confronted them. These are the same guards who were involved in the murders of Brothers Lippiatt and Powell, and now it appears, they have murdered another union brother. Louie Tikas stepped between Lawson and Belk, in that quiet, calm way of his and eased them apart. And, in this way, he may have saved Brother Lawson’s life.
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Hellraisers Journal: Ludlow Tent Colony Attacked by Gunthugs; Mack Powell Shot Off His Horse at Strikers Baseball Game
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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 14, 1913
Ludlow Colony, Colorado – Gunthugs Attack Strikers’ Tent Village
The Ludlow Tent Colony
Wednesday October 8, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire into tents, miners rally to defend the camp.
Several striking miners walked up to Hastings from Ludlow yesterday attempting to collect their mail from the U. S. Post Office there. When mine guards refused them their mail, they argued briefly, but then headed back toward Ludlow. The guards laughed and fired shots over their heads as they walked away.
A short while later, Walter Belk and George Belcher, the same Baldwin-Felts gunthugs who were involved in the murder of Brother Lippiatt, drove near to Ludlow and let loose with a volley of shots into the tents. When miners came running to defend the Colony, more guards began shooting. The miners took up their guns and returned fire.
Women and children ran from the tents and gathered at the fence on the west side of the camp. Seeing that they were exposed to fire, John Lawson ran along the fence urging the women and children back to the tents. As the miners forced the guards to retreat, the women and children, singing union songs, returned to camp.
There are reports that shots were fired at the camp again this morning. John Lawson urged the miners not to leave the camp in pursuit of the guards, but to stay close by:
While you fellows run down there a mile or so the Hastings guards will come down and take the tent colony.
The miners are taking Lawson’s advice. They remain in the camp with their rifles close at hand.
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Friday October 10, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire on baseball field, kill Mack Powell.
Yesterday morning gunthugs from Hastings fired upon the baseball field at the edge of the camp. Striking miners had been enjoying a friendly game, but, as bullets hit the dirt around them, they quickly ran for their rifles. They were able to drive the guards away from the camp. Mack Powell was sitting on his horse and watching from a distance when he was struck by a bullet and killed. Guards were later heard to brag that they had killed a miner.
Mack Powell was a union miner who had taken work as a cowboy on the near-by Green Ranch. Mack was married, and lived with his wife and his wife’s grandmother.
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Sunday October 12, 1913
Southern Coalfield – Operators ship in machine guns; Union prepares.
Should any American citizen believe that, surely, those mine guards who shot up the Ludlow Tent Colony and killed Mack Powell have been arrested, let them be, here and now, disabused of that naive notion of equal justice. In fact, the guards have not been arrested; they have had four machine guns added to their supply of weapons with which to continue their attacks on the tent colonies.
Vice President Hayes of the United Mine Workers of America said recently to John Lawson, “But they can’t conduct a war against us with machine guns. They wouldn’t turn machine guns on defenseless people.”
John Lawson believes that the operators are just that ruthless, and said, “We’ve got to protect the women and children at all costs.”
The colonies have been directed to put up breastworks and to dig pits under the tents. The women and children will be able to shelter there whenever the colonies are attacked. At this time, the Ludlow colony is the particular focus of the gunthugs, but all of the 20 or more colonies are considered to be at risk.
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